The present invention generally relates to personal vehicles including self-propelled stand-on personal vehicles.
Numerous personal vehicles are known within the art. These may include bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards and the like. Stand-on transportation devices are also known within the art. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,229 issued to Hosoda, discloses a stand-on transportation device with shafts to which the front wheel and the rear wheel are assembled and the frame connects these shafts. The rider is support by a footboard along the frame.
Also, known within the art are foot driven vehicles. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,727 issued to Fan discloses a foot driven vehicle. The '727 patent discloses the use of a foot pedal along a frame portion and connected to a crank. However, the '727 patent and similar devices do not provide stability at higher speeds. Cranking the foot pedal while traveling at high speeds and remaining stable would be difficult and dangerous, with the passenger risking falling off and injury.
Another foot driven vehicle is U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,014, issued to Huang. The '014 patent discloses a scooter with a ratchet mechanism for driving the rear wheel of the scooter, a stepping lever for transferring the stepping force of the rider to the ratchet mechanism and a retrieving means for raising the stepping lever as the stepping force is released. In this way the scooter can be propelled by the intermittent stepping force of the rider to advance forwardly. However, such a system is unstable at higher speeds. Also, it is difficult to coast and step on the lever at the same time. This results in the need to remove your foot from the lever, which can be unstable and cause the passenger to slow.
Also known within the art is The Wheelman. The Wheelman is a complicated, cumbersome, heavy, large, and expensive motorized personal vehicle. Because of the motorized nature of The Wheelman, it is loud, not safe for younger children, produces emissions, and is cost prohibitive.
Another disadvantage of the prior art, is the inability to mimic surfing and snowboarding. All previous devices have tried to mimic the surfing and snowboarding feel on land but are merely skateboards with somewhat of a surfing or snowboarding feel. In both snowboarding and surfing the riders feet are on the board at all times. None of these previous devices have allowed a rider to keep both feet on the device during propulsion, while retaining rider control and the feel of snowboarding or surfing.
Another disadvantage of the prior art is the ability to remain stable in a starting position. Accordingly, what is needed is a stable, easy to turn device that may be human powered, remain stable at higher speeds and allow the rider to keep both feet on the device. These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and claims.